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Ever since winning the 2014 Telluride Bluegrass Festival Band Competition, Trout Steak Revival has quickly become a quintessential Colorado band. The band won an Emmy Award for a soundtrack they contributed to a Rocky Mountain PBS web documentary. They’ve collaborated with school children in mentoring programs in Denver and Steamboat Springs. Their music is featured on Bank of Colorado’s radio and television advertisements. Most recently, Westword named them Denver’s Best Bluegrass Band, and they were nominated as a Momentum Band of the Year by the International Bluegrass Music Association.

Defined more by expressive songwriting and heartfelt harmonies rather than any one genre, Trout Steak Revival crosses over and blends the bounds of folk, indie, bluegrass, and roots, and in doing so, evokes its own style of Americana. With five band members all contributing unique lyrics, lead vocals, acoustic instrumentation, and harmonies, Trout Steak Revival crafts memorable tunes and delivers them to an energetic fanbase that grows hand-in-hand with the band.

A great band is more than the proverbial sum of its parts, and in the pursuit of becoming something that can cut through the clutter of YouTube stars and contest show runner-ups, a great roots music band must become a way of life. Less likely to rely on production or image, they’ve got to connect with their audience only through the craftsmanship of their songs, the energy they channel on the stage and the story that brings them together.

Old Salt Union is a string band founded by a horticulturist, cultivated by classically trained musicians, and fueled by a vocalist/bass player who is also a hip-hop producer with a fondness for the Four Freshmen. It is this collision of styles and musical vocabularies that informs their fresh approach to bluegrass and gives them an electric live performance vibe that seems to pull more from Vaudeville than the front porch.

In 2015 they won the FreshGrass Band contest and found the perfect collaborator in Compass Records co-founder and GRAMMY winning banjoist and composer, Alison Brown, whose attention to detail and high standards pushed the group to develop their influences from beyond a vocabulary to pull from during improvisation and into the foundation of something truly compelling in the roots music landscape.

Violinist John Brighton mentions some names familiar to the Compass roster as key influences, musicians like Darol Anger, Edgar Meyer, Mike Marshall and Mark O’Connor, all of whom have collaborated with Brown in the past. Primary vocalist and bassist, Jesse Farrar (for the indie rock heads - yes, he’s related – Son Volt front man Jay Farrar is Jesse’s uncle) brings an alternative rock spirit as well as his unique formative experiences as a hip hop producer and bass player for a national tour of The Four Freshmen. The band’s self-titled Compass debut combines these instrumental proclivities with pop melodies and harmonies into a coherent piece of work that carves out a road-less-travelled for the band in the now crowded roots music genre.

Armchair Boogie formed in the heart of Wisconsin in 2014 as a banjo and guitar duo. After playing a handful of shows, Augie Dougherty (banjo) and Ben Majeska (guitar) recruited a well versed rhythm section to hold down the upbeat tempos and provide an extra oomph that’ll bring even the saddest uncle to a dance floor. This happened in October 2015; and in the few short years since, they've toured consistently around the midwest, played with top notch artists such as Jeff Austin Band and Horseshoes & Hand Grenades, and played venues as big as The Majestic Theater in Madison. The sound has a newgrass feel that's not afraid to delve into realms like funk or country. Keep an eye out for the first full length Armchair Boogie album being released 2017, and don't miss them on the road year round!